Shooting medium-format film

Chris Orwig: So one of the things I want to try to do here is take a little…bit more of a quiet image, kind of like that quiet strong image. I have black and white film.…So just kind of that classic deal. So I'll have you stand here right on the line…and then just because it's loud I'll scoot back a little bit, but then take a…breath and look down and then look back up at the camera and when you do that,…I'll take a picture and we'll see what we can do.…Now there's something interesting about shooting in black-and-white.…Black-and-white is more honest, more believable. It's a distillation of things.…

It's stripping everything down to the bare bones, to the main elements. I also…love shooting with film.…I think a digital capture many times what happens is we try to create…images that are perfect.…With film we embrace the flaw in the frame.…Yeah, that's good and now just looks straight at me.…And also when you look through that camera the world is a little bit softer.…The viewfinder isn't as exact or as perfect.…

Resume Transcript Auto-Scroll

Author

Released

5/27/2011

In the Narrative Portraiture series, photographer and teacher Chris Orwig explores the use of elements such as location and natural light to create images that tell stories about their subjects and produce a strong emotional connection.

In this installment of the series, Chris shows how to incorporate aspects of a location, such as architecture, natural light, and even passersby, to create authentic, story-filled portraits.

The course begins with a photo shoot on the Brooklyn Bridge. Chris emphasizes the importance of directing and collaborating with a subject and of being responsive to changing lighting and location conditions. After the shoot, Chris discusses the preparation that goes into on-location shoots, from choosing camera gear to storyboarding. Next, he reviews the images from the shoot and mentions the post-processing techniques that he employed to make them more effective. The course also includes several assignments aimed at reinforcing the concepts Chris describes.

The course concludes with an on-location family portrait shoot and a look at the special considerations that go into group shots.